Obama campaign: No problem with Biden's 'chains' remark

8/14/12 1:58 PM EDT

The Obama campaign is refusing to back away from Vice President Joe Biden's accusation that Mitt Romney and the GOP will put Americans in "chains" if they are elected.

'We have no problem with those comments," said Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

Pressed on whether President Obama himself agrees with those comments, Cutter said the full context of the remarks was important.

"[Obama] probably agrees with Joe Biden's sentiments," Cutter said. "He's using a metaphor to talk about what's going to happen."

"[Romney] said in the first hundred days, he's going to let the big banks write their own rules — unchain Wall Street. They're going to put y'all back in chains," Biden said earlier Tuesday in a campaign stop in Virginia. The remark drew swift condemnation from the Romney campaign, who called it "slanderous."

"I appreciate the faux outrage from the Romney campaign. But if you want to talk about the use of words, then take a look at Mitt Romney's stump speech where he basically calls the president 'un-American,'" Cutter added.

Senior strategist David Axelrod also denounced the controversy, tweeting: "Enough phony outrage from Team Mitt, while they pour millions into ads that blatantly, brazenly lie about POTUS record on welfare to work."